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MARTINA TAEKER


Song of the Nightingale


1.
Did you drink
from the fountain of Hippocrene
or just watch the muses
bathe? The notes
of your song are pure
like a lover’s skin.

2.
I have no plum tree
to sit under while composing.

3.
The blankness of the River Lethe
denies us a future.
Unable to remember
we cannot learn from past mistakes.
When did we entwine
your perfect notes so sinuously
with death and danger?
This is no floor that guards
against assassins; we do not need
to choose between the lark and nightingale.